Archivist
by Absentis
Summary: Naruto takes up a job at Konoha's vast archives. What will become of a bored six year-old and a boundless sea of knowledge? Gen-fic, Smart!Naruto.


**Archivist **

**Summary: **Naruto takes up a job at Konoha's vast archives. What will become of a bored six year-old and a boundless sea of knowledge?

**Warning: **Of my ten years of reading Naruto fanfiction, I still don't understand how the Academy works for Naruto. He failed the test multiple times, yeah? My fic operates under the assumption that Naruto failed all of his _mock exams _rather than failing the real thing and having to be held back years.

Oh yeah also, I won't be using any Japanese in this work except for basic naming conventions such as honorifics and name order.

**Chapter 1**

The academy hadn't been what Naruto was expecting.

Don't get him wrong, it was awesome to finally start training to be a kick-ass ninja! But, there was a whole lot of 'sit-down-and-read' and not a whole lot of 'partner-up-and-spar'. It felt like he was just wasting time. Why did he have to know local geography and government structure? He _wanted _to learn to control fireballs and create big waves! Naruto hated trying to read. He would read a single line, then his eyes would find something more exciting to look at, like a butterfly passing by the window or the village's Chuunin jumping from rooftop to rooftop. It just wasn't fair, how were Sakura-chan and Sasuke-teme so good at reading with no breaks? Naruto couldn't even get past the first paragraph!

The thought of failing to read for the next 6 years of his life just didn't appeal to the whiskered boy. Yet, there was no use fussing and moaning about it either – he'd had enough of complaining and going unheard, thank you very much. Then and there, an idea formed in his head, he'd go and see the old man! The old man was awesome, he'd definitely know what was wrong with him!

When the fateful class bell tolled, each one of the kids excitedly stood up from their seats and shot out the door faster than an Uchiha's shuriken. Except one particularly cocksure-looking brat dressed in a white t-shirt and orange shorts – the child in question confidently strode up to the teacher's desk with his hands politely folded together in front of him.

"Iruka-sensei, I need a hand, it's really super urgent and it can't wait!" he said with a tone he thought exuded urgency.

"Hm? What are you up to now, Naruto?" Iruka asked chidingly, he knew the boy was hiding something from his original request, and it would no doubt end up with somebody (possibly him) at the end of one of his legendary pranks.

"I'm not up to anything! Promise!" Naruto pleaded. He let out a resigned sigh when he saw Iruka's disbelieving stare. "I need you to bring me to old-man Hokage! I have something really really important to ask him!" Naruto all-but shouted, flailing his arms as if that would somehow convey his intent better.

Iruka just looked at the ground, as if that would make the boy stop bugging him and just go home. He knew it was ridiculous to see Naruto as anything but an innocent, sometimes vacuous young boy; yet one part of him couldn't separate the kid from his parent's killer, the Kyuubi. When the young teacher saw that Naruto wasn't leaving, he let out a drawn-out and resigned sigh. "Fine Naruto, I'll take you to Hokage-sama. Please, for the love of God, stay quiet and keep close to me." At Naruto's quick acceptance, Iruka continued to pack up his things into his case and left the classroom, the street rat young blonde walking behind him like a stray puppy.

The walk through Konohagakure's streets were heartbreaking, almost soul-crushing. The cold stares that Naruto received weren't something he would wish on his worst enemy. It made him feel awful for the poor boy who had done nothing but live and breathe – Iruka soon found that the figurative 'line' between Naruto and the fox was starting to un-blur, become clearer and easier to distinguish between juvenile and vulpine beast. Iruka felt his hand gravitate towards Naruto's as he grabbed the boy's hand and held it tight.

They soon reached the Hokage tower in the centre of the village. The building was as grand as it was intimidating, though he knew the small government inside was much more menacing than the mere building that housed it. The small 'favour' that the academy teacher was doing for Naruto was starting to feel much more like a death wish, as he bared the suspicious gazes of the village's noble and well-respected elders.

"You wish to see the Hokage, Chuunin-san?" the stern woman said skeptically. She eyed Iruka like he was a wasp trying to sting her. She seemed to ignore Naruto, who was hanging on to his hand like his life depended on it. Perhaps that was better than the alternative option, which would be trying to glare at the boy in hopes of his death.

"Ahh, Utatane-sama. Young Naruto and I were hoping if we could speak with Hokaga-sama regarding… ahh, what was it again?" He looked down at Naruto, as if granting him permission to speak with his comforting gaze alone.

The blond boy seemed to re-grow his backbone, as he started bouncing on the balls of his feet and yelled, "We gotta see the old man about my reading, dattebayo!" The boy in his boundless energy kept rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet while flailing his arms to exacerbate his point.

Koharu growled. "Is this some sort of joke, Umino-san?" Koharu asked dangerously.

Iruka swallowed hard. 'Oh God, she knows me by name?!' he thought, perturbed by the idea that a dangerous, socially upright old bat like herself would bother to remember _his _name. He tried to mumble out some sort of reply but the overbearing sensation of fear was making it hard to speak, as if the old bat's kunai was already 4 inches deep in his oesophagus.

Koharu's frown deepened. "I advise you start explaining yourself soon before I have you -"

"That's quite enough, Koharu. Perhaps you should keep _advising_ within the advisory council and not greenhorn Chuunin, hm?"

Iruka's shocked expression fell to the bold old man standing in the door-frame of the Hokage's office. A small smirk was settled on the robed man's face as he met Iruka's shocked expression with one of fondness that spoke of trust and closeness between the two men.

"Iruka-kun, perhaps you and young Naruto-kun would like to join me for some Kombucha?" The Third Hokage offered. Though, Iruka knew that any 'offer' made by Lord Third was essentially a command—you didn't turn down this man's requests, no matter how demanding they may be.

Iruka just nodded and continued to drag the flailing blonde by his hand behind him.

The office had a relaxing aptmosphere, though Iruka knew all too well that coziness could be deceiving, _especially _in the shinobi world. If he were to guess, he'd say that there was at least four ANBU Black Ops shinobi ready to cleave his head off at the smallest hostile twitch. He could find them if he wanted to, but his Echolocation technique would be seen as a threat to the village's leader and would thus result in his death. The newly-minted Chuunin kept his arms at his side, respectfully at a distance from his sizable hidden collection of weapons.

Hiruzen neatly stacked and put away the documents that were sitting in front of him, tucking them away into his fine wooden drawers. He'd already had three steaming cups of kombucha tea sitting on his desk, as if he somehow anticipated their arrival.

Iruka graciously accepted his cup. Meanwhile, Naruto gave it one whiff and decided that it would just be the worst thing ever if he even considered drinking the weird-smelling tea. The childish boy folded his arms in front of him, detesting the lack of hot cup ramen in front of him.

The wise old man took one sip of his tea before putting it back down on his desk – the cup made absolutely no noise as it collided with the desk. "What problems were you having with your reading, Naruto-kun?"

The meeting went on for hours, the topic branching off from Naruto's woes onto other friendly topics. Hiruzen really didn't mind taking some time from his night to discuss Naruto's experiences with schooling – he was the village's Jinchuuriki after all, Konoha's future harbinger of destruction; yet that reasoning really didn't slide with him. No, he was making time, not for a weapon, but for his grandson – if not by blood, then by duty, he owed that much to Minato.

Iruka politely coughed, bringing the old man's attention from Naruto and onto himself. "Hokage-sama, I'm afraid I must leave, the missus will be upset if I don't arrive home soon."

The Hokage chuckled lightly. "Ah yes, it's best you leave then." Before Iruka could even add in his caveat, the Hokage continued, "I will walk Naruto-kun home myself, don't worry." He offered Iruka a comforting smile, and Iruka bowed lowly then left the room.

The evening continued without Iruka, the old man and the young boy talking about nothing in particular. Hiruzen showed Naruto what duties he carried out each evening in his office in regards to paperwork; Naruto lapped it up. This was especially shocking to the elder shinobi – he had always assumed Naruto was as inattentive as he was loud. The Third Hokage even allowed Naruto to do some of the more mundane and trivial paperwork that he had the misfortune of having to do nightly. The old man gave Naruto the 'exciting' job of sorting the spoof mission requests from the real ones – if he had to estimate, he'd say 60% of the letters he was given were false mission requests. With Naruto's keen eye for jokes and pranks, he would no doubt be better at the job than he was himself. He _would _trust the job to some of the village Chuunin, but after the Kyuubi's rampage through Konoha, he found himself rather short-staffed in the Chuunin department.

Still, Naruto seemed to enjoy reading the spoof mission requests, and subsequently chucking them out or even keeping the ones he found especially absurd, making occasional comments about believability and ridiculousness of each spoof letter.

Seeing such joy in the boy's eyes reminded him of Kushina. The way his shoulders shook with laughter or how his cerulean eyes watered up at an especially ludicrous attempt to trick the man into accepting a false mission, it was all so familiar to him.

In that moment, the Hokage knew that he couldn't let this boy slip between his fingers, he really wanted to see his grandson more. "Naruto-kun, how would you like to work for me for a few hours after school each day?" he asked abruptly. 'Smooth Hiruzen, very smooth,' he thought to himself. He'd been a shinobi for sixty years; yet he struggled to talk to his own grandson at times.

Naruto's massive blue orbs lit up in wonder. "A job? You really mean it? I can have a job? With actual money?!" Naruto exclaimed excitedly.

Hiruzen just nodded in response.

Naruto's smile grew bigger and brighter – breaking the boundaries of happiness that the old monkey did not know one could break. "I'd love one! Yeah, gimme a job for you old man! I'll be great at it, dattebayo!" he blurted, bouncing up and down excitedly on his chair.

"Tell me, Naruto-kun, have you ever saw the Konoha Archive Library or the Konoha Central Library?" Hiruzen asked hesitantly, fearing the reaction that was to come from Naruto at the word 'library'.

Naruto just groaned and held his head in his hands. "Library…? Old man, you really want me to work in a _library_?" Naruto asked dejectedly – he'd thought he was getting a lucky break with a 'job' offer, but in reality it was just a ploy to have him read more!

The old monkey held his hands up in mock surrender. "Now now, Naruto-kun. Don't be so hasty. I think you might like it." Naruto just raised an eyebrow at this, non-verbally asking the old man to continue. "Come to the Central Library tomorrow, once Iruka dismisses you from class. Who knows, maybe you'll turn into a bit of a bookworm."

Naruto stuck out his tongue. "No way I'm becoming a dorky bookworm like Sasuke-teme!"

The Third walked the youngster back home, both of them in a contemplative silence. If his plans were to come to fruition, Naruto would not only be a powerhouse on the battlefield, but a terrifyingly clever one too. He knew Naruto had the capability to be smart – this was doubly obvious when one takes his masterful pranks into consideration. At age six, Naruto is able to trick every one of his civilian targets with his brilliant practical jokes.

The Library was just the first step. His hypothesis was that Naruto currently had too much to look at in his classroom, there were 30 other kids there for heaven's sake! If he gave him a job to do, that gave him lots of downtime in the library where he didn't have _anything _to do, Naruto would naturally have to start picking up light reading to keep his boredom at bay. He would ease himself into it, eventually reading whole novels, and maybe even long non-fiction texts.

The Archives was another step in his wonderful plan. He would get Naruto used to organising files by looking at raw data. It would also get Naruto accustomed to analysing Shinobi skills and have him see the value in certain talents. He could have Naruto swap between the Archive Library and the Central Library, and perhaps he could reward him with monetary bonuses on top of his salary, as extra incentive to keep pushing himself to get more knowledge.

Hiruzen knew he would have to be careful, after all, last time he had done this, he had created one of the fiercest monsters ever known to Konoha – Orochimaru. That boy's thirst for knowledge went to such an extreme that he was willing to harm, to torture, to kill. He experimented on countless civilians with absolutely no consent from his victims, or consent from his government. For that, he was considered a true monster. Orochimaru was chaos personified.

Naruto would not become like _him. _Hiruzen would not allow that to happen. Ever.


End file.
